Jul. 2nd, 2011 | 01:58 am

Ryan Murphy, you have a popular show. You have a great franchise going, and a network that is apparently very supportive of you. But as a show runner and a public figure, you have a responsibility to treat the fans with some respect. You lied about Mercedes getting an "R&B Boyfriend" this year. You lied about "only doing one Justin Bieber song". You lied about a "resolution with Will and Terri" in the finale. Now you're going on about casting a "susan boyle/adele" character, and you're going to be adding one of those dumbasses from The Glee Project.

Now on top of that, you've announced that most of the cast will be graduating next season (meaning that they'll be leaving....?) AND YOU FREAKING FIRE CHORD OVERSTREET?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! We get it, we don't want characters to be in high school forever. But Chord was only there one year, he was a reallllly popular character, and he had lots of screen time. In addition, YOU MADE HIM HOMELESS AND YOU SET UP A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP FOR HIM. And now he's just not coming back? Seriously, what the frack!? I know, I know, it's your show and you have the "creative freedom" to do whatever you want. But please, hire a decent writing staff, and stop messing around with the fans. Or I might stop watching altogether.

Jun. 27th, 2011 | 07:59 pm

White Collar is without a doubt one of my favorite TV shows. I generally enjoy shows on USA (with the exception of Fairly Legal), but White Collar has a special place in my heart, and is one of the very few shows that I own on DVD. The underlying plot throughout the first two seasons was about Neal tracking down his ex-girlfriend, Kate, and then finding out who killed her after her plane blew up in the first season finale. Everything came to a head in the season two finale, with Neal finally tracking down Kate's killer, a man that he used to work for. The man behind it all, Vincent Adler, had been messing with Neal's and Kate's lives for the past two years in hopes of getting his hands on a lost Nazi treasure that was on a u-boat somewhere off the coast.

The first two seasons spent a long time establishing Neal and Peter's utmost trust and respect for each other, and the fact that Neal never lies to Peter. In the season one episode "Vital Signs", Neal (while drugged), tells Peter that he's the only one that he ever trusted, out of Mozzie, Kate, and everyone else in his life. I thought that this was a pretty big moment, and establishes that Neal really is a good guy at his core.

In the second season, Neal and Peter became ever closer, as they combined their resources to find the man behind Kate's death. There was no more doubting each other (Neal thinking Peter was withholding information, Peter thinking that Neal was behind a crime that they were investigating) beyond the first couple episodes of the second seasons. The show really hit its stride, and the mismatched partners had become great friends.

And then the second season finale happened. Everything had built up to this moment, to Neal confronting Adler, and then the whole fiasco with the treasure. I was glad that the Kate storyline was more or less wrapped up and excited to see where they would go next, but I'm kind of not crazy about where things are now. Peter automatically thought that Neal stole all the art. Yes, there was that piece of the painting of the empire state building...but isn't it kind of distrusting of Peter to point the finger at Neal? As we discovered in the season three premiere, there were actually many paintings of the empire state building in that style.

Peter even felt the need to do a lie detector test on Neal (why didn't he ask Neal if he knew where the art was?), and Neal complied. I'm surprised that Neal wasn't more insulted at Peter's distrust, especially since Neal didn't actually steal the art. Now, Neal and Peter are keeping secrets from each other all the time. Neal obviously hasn't told Peter that Mozzie stole the art, and that he knows where it is. Peter didn't tell Neal that he and Diana recovered the list of paintings that were part of the collection. Neal managed to find out about the list by conning Peter's agent friend that was visiting, and it seemed like Neal had the upper hand. Now Peter has the upper hand again, since that list left with her on a plane to some far away land (Germany I think?). Seriously, enough of this. This isn't who Neal and Peter are. At least not who I thought they were

Neal was ready to leave his life behind and go on some new adventure with Mozzie and the treasure. I just don't buy it. Neal certainly has his flaws, but he cares about people. He wasn't even going to say goodbye to anyone? Not Sarah? Peter? June? Even Elizabeth? (Who he did say goodbye to in the first season finale, when he was about to hop on a plane with Kate and disappear). It was just so out of character. I really can't see the Neal that I've come to know and love over the past two seasons doing that. The Neal I know doesn't care about money more than people.

"You can be a con or a man, you can't be both...", Peter said to Neal, some time during season two. Evidently season two proved that Neal actually could be both a con and a man, and now season three is undoing the great relationship that they spent so long building up. I don't know where they're going with the stolen treasure storyline, and with Neal and Peter's distrust for each other, and I'll certainly keep watching, but I really hope that they're headed to a better place than I think they are.

Jun. 8th, 2011 | 01:19 am

You wouldn't think that there would be much drama working at a library. But that would be wrong. The long time manager, Joyce announced several months ago that she was retiring. So naturally, a new manager had to be found. One of the other girls that works there, Shannon, put in for the position. Shannon is only the senior page, but she has a library degree, and was therefore considered to be qualified for the position. There was a several week long process of interviewing and stuff, and we all kept telling Shannon that she would get the job. I should probably point out that Shannon is only 25, which, I don't care how much experience and degrees you have, is kind of young to be managing a library. Especially considering that the other librarians that work there are in their 50s. She didn't get the job. And she was a crying mess for several days. A different person that none of us had ever met before, Kelly, got the job. Everyone tried to comfort Shannon, and tell her that we were sure that the new person wouldn't last working there, and that we wouldn't help her out. I was kind of nervous about having a new boss, but Kelly was super nice, and she had all kinds of innovative new ideas and ways to make everything run smoother. I was really happy, because she seemed to really like me and value me as an employee. I was kind of glad that Shannon didn't get the job, because she can be kind of bossy sometimes and I'm not always sure if she likes me or not. Everyone else except for Shannon said that they loved Kelly too. Shannon was still kind of bummed, but finally starting to adjust to our new boss. So apparently yesterday, Kelly finds out that her husband's job is being transferred to North Carolina. So she'll be leaving the library and moving. So what happens? The position falls to Shannon, because the board doesn't want to interview people again. Shannon can be a very nice person, but honestly I don't think she'll be a good manager AT ALL. She obviously was very happy, but it's just so strange. The other librarians are apparently not too happy either, and one of them is even threatening to quit. I don't blame them, I wouldn't want my boss to be someone less than half my age. Guess I'll have to see how it all works out, but things are looking very complicated right now.

Jun. 7th, 2011 | 03:01 pm

About 4 years ago, I made a list of the top 5 bands that I wanted to see live, but hadn't seen yet. That list was: Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, The Rocket Summer, and My Chemical Romance. Four of them, I've seen live. Multiple times. The only one remaining on my list that I haven't seen yet is My Chemical Romance. I was BEYOND ECSTATIC when I heard that My Chemical Romance was coming to Buffalo. They haven't been here since 2007, at which point I was kind of just getting into the. And there was NO WAY that 14 year old me would be going to a My Chemical Romance concert by myself. I knew that I absolutely had to go to this, because then my list would be complete, just before college.

But of course, as is always the case with concerts, there's that whole issue of money. I understand that bands needs to make money, and I understand that touring is the only way to do that these days. I'm ok with paying $83 for a ticket, if it's a GOOD ticket. But it's really not. I'm in the back of the 200 section, and that's about as good as I'm going to get without handing over an arm and a leg. Tickets at the front of the 200 section? $225. Tickets in the 100 section and the GA PIt? Also $225. Alright, you want people to pay more for the "VIP Experience". I think that somewhere about $100, or maybe even $125 would be the ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM that should be charged for this. This is absolutely Blink-182's fault. They're greedy, and this is essentially "their" tour. You guys are big, yeah, but not that big. Do you think that I'm made of money? Because it honestly seems that way.

Point of rage number two: STUPID PRESALE CRAP! So tickets are going on sale Saturday at 10am...alright, I can deal with that, I'll have my multiple different browsers open, ready to buy tickets and choose the best ones I can get. Nope. Why would it be that simple? Mark Hoppus announced yesterday on his twitter that there was going to be a presale at 1:00pm that day. Ooops, he got the time and day wrong and it was actually today at 10:00am. WHY DO A PRESALE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK?! It's not like it was really even a presale, since the "password" for it was posted on blink's and MCR's websites. Then I see a tweet from livenation buffalo that there's going to be another presale starting at 10am on Thursday.WHAT?! I'm so confused! Are more tickets going to be released at that presale, and then when they go on sale to the "general public" at 10 on Saturday? I'm going to try again both days, and if I can get seats that are in a better part of the 200 section, I'll take that and try to sell the other seats.

Finally, I don't even have anyone to go with. As with last time Blink (with Fall Out boy and Panic, who were what I really cared about) came to town, I know I'm going to end up offering a "free ticket" in order to get someone to go with me. I've asked friends to go with me and they've been like "oh....it's too expensive...." even when I've offered to give them my ticket for a heavily discounted price. So I don't even know if I'm going at this point .I have two ok tickets, that cost too much, that I might not even get to use, that I might just end up selling.

If I start a "Alex wants to see MCR" fund now, and put away a dollar every week, I should be able to afford an expensive ticket when they come back to town again in another four years. Haha.

May. 30th, 2011 | 11:32 pm

I've been a vegetarian for most of my life. My parents tell me that when I was a kid I would refuse to eat meat, and iI would ask if something "had babies", and refuse to eat it if the answer was yes. I think my family became vegetarians when I was about 7. I'm 18 now, and I can't see myself really ever eating meat again. It bugs me so much that people think being a vegetarian is such a weird thing and that I'm part of some other planet because I don't eat meat. I tell people that I'm a vegetarian and their first response is usually either "OMG WHY?!" or "WHAT DO YOU EAT THEN?!" Why? Because it's my life choice. It doesn't have to be your life choice. I'm not trying to convert you to become a vegetarian. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't challenging at times, and it's absolutely not practical for the entire world to convert to vegetarianism. What do I eat? Pretty much everything except meat. I usually tell people "Oh, I eat a lot of salad and a lot of pasta." which is kind of the answer that I think they want to hear. I eat a lot of everything except for meat. I was at a memorial day picnic today, which naturally had hotdogs and hamburgers. I just ate lots of salads and sides and stuff and that was ok for me. People don't seem to think that this is acceptable, and I don't really know why. The thing that really bugs me the most is when people are like "OMG DOES IT BOTHER YOU THAT I'M EATING THESE RIBS RiGHT IN FRONT OF YOU?! Cause, you know, you can't eat it and stuff...." No. Actually it doesn't bother me. If I wanted to eat meat, I'd be eating meat. I don't care if you eat meat in front of me. It's just like if you were to eat artichokes in front me. I hate artichokes, and have no desire to ever eat them. If you want to "taunt" me by eating something sitting next to me that I have no desire to eat, it doesn't bother me. It really has absolutely no effect on me when people eat meat in front of me. But it bothers me when they think that they're taunting me or something by doing so. Dude, just eat your meal and I'll eat mine. You probably don't want whatever I'm eating, and I probably don't want whatever you're eating. I just wish people would accept that being a vegetarian is actually not weird at all. It doesn't mean that I'm part of some other species. I'm a person, just like you, that just doesn't eat meat.

May. 26th, 2011 | 12:45 pm

I'm on a 6 hour drive from Hartford, Connecticut back to Buffalo after the Panic! show, so what better time to make a post about the show? I was super pumped that Panic! was doing a tour, but they weren't coming to Buffalo :( I convinced my dad to drive to Toronto for the show there, but we decided to go to Connecticut to see my friend and the show there instead. Seriously, one of the best concert experiences of my life. I joined Northern Downpour just so I could get meet&greet and early entry. We got to the venue around 3:30, and the meet&greet supposedly started at 5. I thought that there would be a big line, but there were only about 5 people in front of us. Eventually some other people got there, we talked to people from Boston, Long Island, and other places. The tour bus was parked on the street near where we were lined up. At one point Dallon came out and tried to get on bus but couldn't get the door open. Someone had to let him on haha. Eventually Zack (Panic's very protective but extremely funny and usually nice bodyguard) came and corralled the line and separated meet&greet from early entry people. Then we went in where we were going to meet them, after Zack checked names off the list and gave out wristbands. Then it was time for the "warning talk". Zack is clearly very serious about protecting the boys, and gave us a talk about what we are and are not allowed to do in meet and greet. "It's ok to put your arms around them when taking a picture...it's not ok to grab their asses...they really dont like that, and I will kick you out." Someone's phone went off, with the ringtone of CeeLo Green's "Forget You". Zack was mad cause he was in the middle of giving his speech, and Zack said "Fuck you!!!" in time with the song to the person whose phone went off. lol. "We know that you like to buy the guys gifts...like getting a build a bear that looks like Brendon because it has a top hat. That's super nice, but we don't really have room on a tour bus for all that stuff, and usually we end up just throwing it out. Occasionally I find an orphanage or something that we can give that stuff to, and I guess they like getting a million build a bears that look like Brendon..." I made them bracelets. Then it was finalllly time to meet them! I was super glad that Dallon and Ian were at the meet and greet too, because I didn't know if they would be. They were all very nice and friendly, though I didn't get to talk to them for very long. They all signed my ticket, and loved the bracelets, Dallon took a really long time picking which one he wanted, and Brendon was super amused by the intricate design. Brendon said I was super talented at making them :) Brendon was wearing his glasses which I think makes him look even sexier. Dallon was wearing short hipster pants, it looked kind of strange haha. Dallon is ridiculously tall, probably 6'3" at least. Ian is super short, about my height. Brendon and Spencer are taller than me, but still short-ish. Then we got back in line for the pictures. Zack informed us that part of the ticket would be torn off, the part where Ian signed, so Ian had to re-sign like 50 tickets. Brendon seemed to find this like super amusing. I asked Brendon what the button on his jacket said. "Sexy bitch...because I am...it was a gift." He laughed. The picture with them turned out super well! Zack obviously knows what he's doing and is very good at taking pictures. The girl that was behind us in line forgot to bring her camera, so I let her use mine for her picture. We came back out and had to get in line behind the early entry people. boo! There were like 25 of them and I was afraid we weren't going to get a good spot, and people from meet&greet kept jumping in line in front of us. We went in eventually and got barricade!!! I was surprised since there so many people in front of us. We were on the left side, but it was a REALLY good spot. I didn't experience too much pushing or annoying people in the crowd, so that was good. After way too much waiting, Foxy Shazam came on. I find it really funny that Foxy Shazam opened for The Young Veins too, and I honestly think they're much more suited for that crowd. Their music was really not bad at all. If I closed my eyes it was good. But the whole experience of them was just so BIZARRE. They were all dressed very bizarrely, and were very strange. The lead singer asked people in the crowd for cigarettes. He eventually got one, and smoked it on stage. This bugged me because (a), smoking is super gross and stuff, (b) I'm really allergic to smoke, and (c) who the frack smokes on stage?! Then he got another cigarette and ate it. yeah. ATE it. Eww. They were thankfully done after like 5 songs, and it was time for the band Fun, which I'd heard of but never really listened to before. I was really pleasantly surprised by Fun! They were really...well....fun! haha. Very good, cool interesting music. I'll be downloading some of them when I get home hopefully. They had a slightly but not much longer set than Foxy Shazam, but were about a million times better. haha. After more waiting it was finalllly time for Panic! I dont think I'd ever been so excited for anything in my life. haha. We were on the side of the stage by Ian. Ian and his mic stand kind of blocked Spencer and his drums (which were on a little platform toward the back of the stage) so I didnt really get many pictures of him. I took about 350 pictures, about 180 are good. The lighting was kind of weird and annoying, and my camera didn't really like it for the most part. But I still got a lot of good pictures, mostly of Brendon and Ian. Dallon was far away too haha. Dallon had changed out of his hipster pants and was dressed normally. Brendon and Ian were wearing shirts with suspensders, Brendon had a bow tie. I'm not really sure what Spencer was wearing. Great improvement over the Pretty. Odd. days with the paisley and flower shirts. haha. They played a LOT of songs from Vices & Virtues, I think every song except for The Calendar and Sarah Smiles. I don't really like Sarah Smiles, so that was good for me haha. My favorite song on the record is Hurricane, which was super fun and energetic live. Brendon played Always on an acoustic guitar sitting in the back of the crowd. We only like half watched because we didnt want tm lose our spots on the barricade. But I really love that song, and it sounds really good live. The only songs from Pretty. Odd. that they played were Nine in the Afternoon and That Green Gentleman. If someone had told me 3 or even 2 years ago that Panic would pretty much hate Pretty. Odd. and that the exclamation point would be back there's no way that I would have believed them. It kind of makes me sad because it looks more and more like Pretty. Odd. is "The Ryan Ross Album". They played a LOT of songs from A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. They played The Only Difference, I Write Sins Not Tragedies, Lying Is The Most Fun, But It's Better If You Do, I Constantly Thank God, and I think there might have been more. I wish they would have played There's A Good Reason, cause that's my favorite song off the album, but oh well. There were a bunch of random covers, I dont remember what all of them were though. I know they played Carry On My Wayward Son, some George Michaels song, and some song that their band name came from. idk haha. Brendon said that his suspenders were breaking and that it was time for them to go. Their last song was Nearly Witches. Brendon thanked everyone so much for coming to the show. What he really meant was "thanks for paying too much for a ticket." Thank YOU Panic, for a great night. At one point there was apparently a lot of pushing and people wefe getting really hot, though I didnt have this problem. The band dumped water on some of the crowd. Ian directly hit and pretty much drenched us. My friend and I started swearing at him, and flipping him off. he thought it was hilarious. Zack gave us a towel to dry off. Isn't he the best/most organized/nicest bodyguard ever? We headed out into the massive mob of people trying to buy merch. All the shirts were really ugly, and I already have 3 Panic shirts haha. My friend and I ended up buying bracelets, which are pretty cool and much more affordable. A super amazing concert experience, I'm so lucky to have met one of my favorite bands, and been front row for their concert. See you again soon, Panic <3 Lots of pictures coming when I get home! Follow me on Twitter @Lukki_Star, and ask if you want to add me on Facebook!

May. 21st, 2011 | 12:01 am

Leonard is sleeping in Raj's bed.Priya is also sleeping in Raj's bed.They're having Star Trek sex in Raj's bed. Raj is sleeping in Leonard's bed.Penny is sitting in Sheldon's spot.Penny is also sleeping in Leonard's bed. Raj and Penny wake up and realize that they were both sleeping in Leonard's bed. Together. And they might have done more than just sleep.HOLY MOTHER EFFING....DID THEY REALLY JUST DO THAT?! I've had gripes with this season before, because I'm not a huge fan of the girls.I honestly can't believe that they did that!I don't want to throw the shark jumping cliche out there, so I'm to hope that they resolve this quickly in the season premiere. The whole final scene was insanity, with Howard coming in upset about Bernadette making more money than him, Leonard upset about Priya moving back to India (and breaking up with him? Gosh I hope so, she's so boring and annoying...) and then of course, the magnificent walk of shame. Should be interesting to see where they go next season...

May. 20th, 2011 | 01:37 am

Let's face it, the only thing that really mattered in this episode was the final scene. OH MY GOD THEY DID DO IT AND THERE'S GOING TO BE A BABY BONES. Alright. well as nice as that is....there are definite problems. I do not believe for one second that they would have gone this route if Emily wasn't pregnant in real life. I think I even remember one of the producers saying somewhere that they wouldn't have her pregnant on the show. I don't know. I kind of wanted to see them grow as a couple and then make the conscious decision to have a child...this is kind of a lot all at once.

We've all been waiting 6 years for Booth and Brennan to get together. We had to put up with the drudgery of Hannah for the first half of this season...but I think everyone knew in the back of their minds that Booth and Brennan are meant for each other, and that they would probably get together eventually. I think this is kind of a big step for the show, because honestly I wouldn't have expected the show to have them get together until the very end...I definitely thought this would have been the equivalent of Clark flying in Smallville, and Ted meeting the mother in How I Met Your Mother. A sign of the end. But I'm very glad it's not.

Fans of the show have wanted them to get together for a long time. And obviously the producers listened, and finally gave us that gift after six years of waiting. I'm not sure if the pregnancy thing is the best idea. I'm looking forward to Booth and Brennan being a couple, but I'm not sure I'm looking forward to them being thrust into parenthood so quickly. I don't know if it's quite a cop out, but it's just a bit strange to me...

The rest of the episode didn't really matter too much. Seeing Daddy Bones was fun as usual (since he stopped murdering people and stuff...) and the case of the week was somewhat entertaining because of the bowling alley shenanigans, but it wasn't anything too special. My favorite squintern, Wendell made an apperance (seriously, he's so cute! And he doesn't have any wacky quirks like the rest of them), and watching him try to figure out Angela's equipment, which is apparently called the Angelatron (I thought it was the Angelator?). Predictably, Angela and Hodgins' baby was fine, and it was a nice transition into the conversation that Bones had with Booth where she broke the news. Sidenote: What a lovely tribute to the deceased Vincent Nigel-Murray that Angela and Hodgins gave him the middle name of Vincent <3

I suppose this is kind of the natual progression for the show at this point. Earlier in the season, there was that episode where Brennan identified really closely with a victim, and realized that she was in love with Booth but had missed her chance because he had a girlfriend. Ever since Booth and Hannah broke up, people have been asking..."So what the heck are they waiting for then?!" I'm glad I have the summer to mull this one over, because I still don't quite know what to think. I'm happy, confused, annoyed, and ecstatic all at the same time. I'd say it's pretty good TV that can get that much of an emotional rise out of me.

May. 12th, 2011 | 12:48 am

I don't know what got into the networks this season, but for some odd reason, the big four all felt the need to try to "comedy about couples in different stages of relationships". CBS gave us Mad Love, which fails because it's trying to be How I Met Your Mother, but isn't doing a very good job. It uses almost the exact same set, and the small uninteresting 4 person cast gives it very limited possibilities. Fox's offering was Traffic Light, which I'll admit I kind of liked. It was nothing great, and kind of made girls/women look stupid sometimes, but it was harmless and fun enough. That's completely dead after last night's FOXpocalypse. NBC brought us Perfect Couples (which was taken off the schedule, then replaced by the Paul Reiser Show which was canceled after two episodes. Mega-fail, NBC). In addition, NBC has two shows in a similar vein lurking in the shadows, Love Bites, and Friends With Benefits. I don't know much about Friends With Benefits other than that it exists, but Love Bites looked SO promising! It was supposed to premiere last fall....then got pushed to midseason....and had its episode order reduced...and now it will probably get burned off over the summer.

And then there's ABC. ABC is the network that I watch the least, and am least familiar with, but they're the network that brought us Modern Family, so they can't be all bad. In the fall, they premiered Better With You, which was about two sisters and their relationships, and then their parents' relationship....It was funny enough I guess, but nothing I was really committed to. It pales in comparison to the rest of ABC's stellar Wednesday comedy lineup. I forgot to set up a timer for it when I got my new DVR box about 2 months ago...and then forgot that I had forgotten. Which shows how little I cared about it.

So when I heard that ABC was going to do ANOTHER comedy about a group of 20-something friends who hung out and dated and stuff, I was far from ecstatic. I almost didn't even watch. But I'm sure glad that I did. This show is without a doubt in my mind, the best comedy that's premiered all year. There was a bit of a gimmick at the beginning with two of the principle characters breaking up at the alter, but that was really just to get the ball rolling.

Like Modern Family, Happy Endings features 6 principle characters. There are usually two or three different plots going on in the course of an episode, which I think is why it works. If I'm not terribly interested in one of the plots, chances are I'll care a bit more about the others. My favorite character on Happy Endings is Max, who's the gay guy. But ABC already has a comedy where gay people are featured! This is true. But Max is a very different kind of gay than Mitchell and Cameron on Modern Family. He's not super feminine, he doesn't wear pink or tight clothes. He's just a guy...that likes guys. And that's totally ok.

I don't even really know why I like the show that much, it's nothing super exciting or groundbreaking. But somehow it's more interesting to me than any of the other shows of similar premise that the networks have tried this year. I don't know why they all wanted to try this experiement, that kind of failed, but ABC seems to have come out on top. Maybe everything else was just SO BAD this season that Happy Endings looks good, or maybe I still miss Friends, and it kind of sort of reminds me of Friends.Either way, it's a super funny show, and deserves a second season. So check it out, Wednesdays at 10 on ABC!

May. 11th, 2011 | 07:58 pm

My twitter feed pretty much exploded last night around 11pm. Did we get another terrorist?! Nope, FOX network was on a bloody rampage, canceling every single one of its "bubble shows". Among the casualties were Human Target, The Chicago Code, Lie To Me, Breaking In, and Traffic Light. Honestly, I'm not really super bummed about any one of these, the only one that I actually watch regularly is Traffic Light, and I wasn't particularly attached to it. People were absolutely furious, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't sad, but honestly, this is the TV business. It's more likely that a show will fail than succeed.

It's kind of an interesting and aggressive PR move on FOX's part, evidently the point is to grab up all the good writers before the other networks do, and show that they're only willing to tolerate success. One of the funniest things from the night was a TV Line article morphing from "Fox picks up several new shows, with a couple of cancellations...." to "FOX bloodbath!!!!! Oh, they picked up a couple shows too..." Among the new shows picked up are Alcatraz (some new scifi thing from J.J. Abrams...), The Finder (the very excellent Bones spinoff!), I Hate My Teenager Daughter (comedy) and The New Girl (comedy with Zooey Deschanel). In addition, the highly anticipated, high profile X-Factor will be on FOX's fall schedule, as well TerraNova, a ridiculously awesome show about dinosaurs and stuff.

FOX is a bit different from the other networks. First off, it doesn't have "BC" in its name. I'm sorry, bad joke. It's considerably younger than ABC, CBS, and NBC, but manages to do excellently for itself demographic wise. Anyone remember Lone Star from the fall? Maybe, maybe not. If you do remember it, you probably remember it for being canceled so quickly. In hindsight, this shows how truly innovative FOX is, and that it's willing to take risks, even if they don't always pay off. It says a lot about the network that they're even willing to give a show like Lone Star a shot. And I'm grateful that they did. Would Glee have succeeded on any other network? Not a freaking chance. Glee is one of those risks that payed off. Though it certainly has its flaws, Glee is one of the most innovative and interesting shows on TV right now, and I honestly can't imagine a TV world without it.

CBS is usually the "safe, predictable" network, but even they made some mis-steps this year. Shit My Dad Says? Might as well get rid of the last three words of the title. It has a couple of hits in Mike & Molly and Blue Bloods, but it's really been a bad year overall. And of course there was also the giant Two and a Half Men and Charlie Sheen debacle, which is apparently not over yet. NBC is probably the most troubled of the networks, with its ever declining ratings and general lack of quality. I'm glad that Parenthood and Chuck made it out alive, because they're probably NBC's best programs, at least in my opinion. Let's hope that this year is the last we see of Outsourced. Shit My Dad Says and Outsourced are both considered to be pretty offensive, and have a lot of people that really hate them and are wishing cancellation upon them. FOX doesn't make offensive shows. Sure, maybe the decaying dead bodies on Bones gross you out a bit, but surely that's a bit better than the racially offensive jokes of Outsourced.

One final consideration- FOX doesn't do 10pm TV. ABC, NBC, and CBS all do, so they have more shows, and more timeslots to fill. FOX only has 12 hours of TV as opposed to the 18 that the others have, so they need to make those count.

So here's to you, FOX, the creative network, for being bold, making a few people mad, and hopefully creating a great next season for TV.